Too close.
Chi Feihong wanted to pull back and open up some distance, but the Nether Armor King was faster than him.
*Slash!*
The Nether Armor King brought down its blade in a swift flash. A red line of blood opened across Chi Feihong's waist. Before he could react, the Nether Armor King moved again, bringing the blade down in a vertical cleave. Another line of blood split right down Chi Feihong's middle.
His entire body was cleaved into four pieces!
*I actually lost!*
As his body slowly collapsed, Chi Feihong was gripped by disbelief.
Nearby, Tong Wozhen watched this unfold in utter shock. Even Chi Feihong had fallen—what chance did he have?
*Run!*
In the next instant, Tong Wozhen transformed into a streak of black light and bolted.
He still had a chance. As long as he found three treasure chests, he could advance to the next floor. There was no need for him to throw his life away against the Nether Armor King; the ones who should truly despair were the ordinary class users.
Although he wanted to avenge Mai Zi, the Nether Armor King was too strong. He was truly no match for it.
Back at the crossroads, the waiting crowd was momentarily stunned as a streak of black light shot out and vanished in the blink of an eye.
"What happened?"
"The one who just flew past was Tong Wozhen."
"Did even Chi Feihong lose? Should we go take a look?"
As the crowd burst into clamorous discussion, Yu Xian charged straight ahead. When he reached the corridor where the Nether Armor King and Chi Feihong had clashed, he arrived just in time to see the Nether Armor King plunge its blade into Chi Feihong's head.
"Quite the tenacious vitality, but a pity... today, you die," the Nether Armor King said indifferently, looking down at Chi Feihong.
Then it noticed Yu Xian appearing up ahead. As their eyes locked, the Nether Armor King remarked coldly, "He died because of you as well. Remember that!"
With that, an immense surge of Nether Fiend Energy directly blew Chi Feihong's head apart.
Yet the moment Chi Feihong died, his entire body turned pitch-black. A terrifying gravitational force erupted, condensing into a miniature black hole.
Yu Xian, bearing the brunt of it, was instantly sucked in, dying as thoroughly as could be.
Standing too close to the black hole, the Nether Armor King unleashed its Nether Fiend Energy to resist the gravitational pull. Holding its ground firmly, it stared at the black hole and muttered coldly, "As expected, class users remain a scourge even in death!"
With that, it immediately slashed toward the black hole.
However, as the Dream-Severing Blade neared the black hole, it sensed something amiss and abruptly halted its strike. At the black hole's event horizon, the Dream-Severing Blade was already beginning to warp slightly.
This black hole was immune to physical attacks.
What was more, it even devoured Nether Fiend Energy, rendering the Nether Armor King's skills largely ineffective against it.
The Nether Armor King stepped back cautiously, staying vigilant in case the black hole detonated or triggered further effects. In any case, Chi Feihong was dead; next, it would simply resume hunting down Yu Xian.
Yet the expected explosion never came.
Instead, the black hole suddenly collapsed inward, slowly taking on a pitch-black humanoid shape. The dark film began receding rapidly from the head down, revealing Chi Feihong completely unscathed.
[Astral Trait: Indestructible Black Hole]
[Effect: Upon death, consumes the Indestructible Black Hole trait, transforming the body into a black hole that absorbs all surrounding lifeforms. Randomly inherits one trait from one of the absorbed lifeforms and resurrects the user.]
Chi Feihong looked at the Nether Armor King, let out a breath, and said calmly, "Killing me won't be that easy!"
In reality, his heart was bleeding. He only had five stacks of the 'Indestructible Black Hole' trait, effectively giving him five lives. Now, because of the Nether Armor King, he had lost one.
"Interesting, but I don't believe you can resurrect endlessly. If I can kill you once, I can kill you a hundred times. Let's see how many times you can come back!" the Nether Armor King said dispassionately, gazing at the resurrected Chi Feihong.
Although its skills couldn't harm Chi Feihong, its basic attacks could inflict tremendous damage on him.
From here, it would simply keep engaging Chi Feihong in close combat. With its overwhelming stats, Chi Feihong was doomed.
Having thrown down the gauntlet, the two stared each other down, a battle ready to erupt at any second.
"Huh? Chi Feihong, how did you become my summoned beast?"
Suddenly, Yu Xian's voice echoed in Chi Feihong's mind. Chi Feihong froze.
Hurriedly, he opened his stat panel to inspect his traits. When he saw an additional trait under his Astral Traits—[Yu Xian's Summoned Beast]—he was dumbfounded.
His Indestructible Black Hole trait had originally been at +5, but now it had dropped to +4. And what he had gotten in exchange for consuming that Indestructible Black Hole was none other than [Yu Xian's Summoned Beast]! What on earth had he swallowed when he turned into a black hole?
"I see, so you really did become my summoned beast!" Yu Xian's voice rang out in his head again, brimming with sudden realization.
At that moment, Chi Feihong almost wished he were dead. Because [Yu Xian's Summoned Beast] wasn't just a label—he truly had become Yu Xian's summoned beast. He now held dual identities.
He was a class user, yet simultaneously, he was Yu Xian's summoned beast.
A bug had broken the system!
How on earth had he rolled such a trait?
Under normal circumstances, it should have been impossible to extract a trait with negative effects, let alone one that was completely, one hundred percent negative for him!
Well...
By this point, Yu Xian had figured out the reason.
First, when Chi Feihong turned into a black hole, the only thing he had devoured was one of Yu Xian's summoned beasts. And that summoned beast just happened to be a Silver Mirror Ghost King.
All the Silver Mirror Ghost Kings Yu Xian currently summoned were monsters crafted using his own Primordial Power, and these monsters inherently possessed no traits whatsoever.
Indeed.
Unlike the summoned beasts Yu Xian acquired through standard summoning methods—which might come with certain hidden traits—these creations had none.
Consequently, the Silver Mirror Ghost King's sole trait was [Yu Xian's Summoned Beast].
This was an intrinsic trait shared by the summons of every summoner, bundled by default with the act of summoning and never recorded on the standard stat panel—a hidden trait.
If someone possessed a skill like the 'All-Knowing Eye,' they could inspect numerous hidden properties, at which point this most conspicuous attribute would become visible.
Typically, it displayed as [So-and-so's Summoned Beast].
The purpose of this hidden trait was primarily to identify whose summon a creature belonged to.
For instance, if a summoner dispatched their beast on a killing spree, class users with specialized observation skills could determine the culprit behind it through this trait.
Some skills even manifested a line of text floating above the summon's head. For instance, over Yu Xian's Death Emperor, it would likely read: [Yu Xian's Summoned Beast: Death Emperor].
This text was projected directly from the trait, making ownership unmistakable at a glance.
Given that, the current situation made perfect sense. When Chi Feihong died and turned into a black hole, the only creature he absorbed was the Silver Mirror Ghost King. Since it possessed only that single trait, no matter how the RNG rolled, the only trait he could possibly inherit was [Yu Xian's Summoned Beast].
Moreover, this trait was part of the underlying baseline code written into the world's very rules. Once that line of code was etched into him, he truly became Yu Xian's summoned beast.
All these thoughts and realizations unfolded within a matter of seconds.
Naturally, the Nether Armor King noticed that Chi Feihong had spaced out. After a second's hesitation, it decisively stepped forward, closing the distance between them in an instant.
A basic attack, a single slash!
It raised its blade and cleaved down at the distracted Chi Feihong.
Chapter 551